


Gift Horses

by sayasamax3



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Thieves, M/M, Pre-Slash, Thieves Guild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 09:24:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3482966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sayasamax3/pseuds/sayasamax3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata goes out to steal a horse, and ends up stealing considerably more than a horse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gift Horses

**Author's Note:**

> Done for foxlys on tumblr for the HQ Secret Valentines exchange!

Belatedly it occurs to Hinata that Tanaka, a senior member of the Karasuno Thieves’ Guild, had been joking when he bet that Hinata didn’t have the guts to rob the King’s castle.  And it is unfortunate that this realization is only dawning on him now, as he struggles to cross the castle grounds with a knapsack filled with gold and finery, all neatly thieved from the castle treasury, while trying to avoid detection on a night when the moon is far too full to allow for any sort of stealth.

 _‘Daichi is going to kill me,’_  Hinata thinks, dizzy with anxiousness as he ducks into the royal stables,  _‘Unless I get caught.  Oh god, I’m gonna get caught! And Daichi is still gonna kill me!’_

“Why didn’t I just stay at the camp?” Hinata whines, as he searches for a candle or lamp in the gloom of the stable.  He finds and lights one easily enough, but it doesn’t cut through the dark so much as gently nudge at it. “Bet they’re having meat for dinner.  I wanna eat meat, too…”

Hinata walks up to the nearest stall, desperate to just grab a horse and run, since there’s no way he’ll get away with all this loot on foot.  The horse inside is already awake, looking down at him curiously and nudging him with its nose, distracting him enough that he doesn’t notice the other boy at first, tucked away as he is in the front left corner of the stall, half-dozing and motionless.

But the boy jolts awake when the horse Hinata is trying to steal neighs, and Hinata is treated to a glare so lethal he nearly starts begging for his life then and there. 

His fright becomes positively  _visceral_  once he realizes who, exactly, the boy glaring at him is.

It is none other than Prince Kageyama Tobio,  second prince of the Kitagawa Daiichi kingdom, alternately known as the Dread Prince and Little Tyrant for—well, Hinata’s not sure why, exactly, but he imagines it has something to do with that soul-crushing glare.

Kageyama reacts before Hinata can shake himself loose of his shock and  _lunges_  forward.  Frantic and fearing for his life, Hinata stumbles back and drops his knapsack, only to realize that Kageyama wasn’t coming after  _him_ —no, he’d all but thrown himself at the horse, his arms winding around the beast’s neck in what Hinata belatedly realizes is a  _hug._

“No!” The prince shouts, “Take one of the other horses, you can’t have Tobio Kaizer!”

There are a lot of things Hinata wants to say to that—shouldn’t Kageyama try to stop him from stealing  _any_  of the horses?  Or try to apprehend him, or turn him in? 

All that comes out, however, is –“ _Tobio Kaizer?_ ” and a choked-down laugh.

Hinata had thought Kageyama’s first glare was bad, but the one he gets now is  _infinitely_  worse, and the only reason he doesn’t piss himself where he stands is because the Dread Prince himself is  _hugging a horse named Tobio Kaizer._

(And also looking just a little—just a  _bit_ —afraid.  Afraid and lonely, maybe.)

“Okay, okay!” Hinata says, raising his hands in surrender, “I won’t steal Tobio Kaizer!”

Kageyama’s eyes narrow in doubt.  Hinata takes a good faith step back out of the stall.

It is very strange to steal a horse while under the watchful eye of one’s prince, and even stranger to feel that his choice is being approved by Kageyama himself—he keeps making disgruntled noises any time Hinata gets too close to certain horse stalls, and it’s not until Hinata’s halfway into the stable, standing before a placid-looking mare that he hears what sounds like a satisfied huff coming from the prince. 

Not-stealing a horse is definitely more nerve-wracking than out-and-out stealing one, Hianta decides as he opens the mare’s stall.  His stomach is already starting its revolt against him.

“Um, so!” Hinata’s voice nearly cracks over the words as he tries to think of something to say to break the tension, “Why are you sleeping in the stables, anyway?  Don’t you have nice prince-y rooms or something?”

Kageyama frowns hard, and it’s still terrifying only Hinata is starting to suspect that the prince’s face is actually just  _stuck_  that way.  Maybe his face would  _break_  if he smiled?  The thought would make Hinata laugh, if he weren’t so nervous.

“Hiding,” the prince replies at last; Hinata barely catches the words, with how quietly, how grudgingly they’re murmured.

Hinata takes a moment away from contemplating the horse in front of him—when’s the last time he tacked up a horse, anyway?—to contemplate Kageyama’s response instead.

“Hiding from what?” Hinata asks, looking back over to Kageyama. 

The prince narrows his eyes a little more at Hinata and tilts his head, before saying, “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“H-hey!” Hinata shouts, “I’m still  _learning_ , okay!  And—wait—what don’t I know how to do?”

Kageyama looks less than impressed as he leaves Tobio Kaizer’s stall, carefully locking it up behind him.  Oh god, this is it, Hinata thinks, squeezing his eyes shut against the image of the prince advancing down the aisle toward him, Kageyama has finally realized he’s a thief, and not even a very good one, and is going to  _totally annihilate him for being a shitty thief_. 

In the dark, Hinata hears the sounds of rummaging from somewhere not too far from himself, and then a moment later a  _thwump_  from somewhere even closer.  Hinata determines that, whatever implement Kageyama intends to destroy him with, it must be heavy.

“Dumbass,” Kageyama says, sounding far too close, “If you’re going to ride a horse, you have to tack it first.”

Hinata’s eyes fly back open at that and, sure enough, Kageyama is standing in the mare’s stall with him, settling a saddle and saddle pad down on the stall wall, a bucket of brushes hanging from the crook of his arm. He seems to have lit a few candles on his way over, too, for now there’s enough light in the barn for Hinata to see beyond just a few feet.

“Here,” Kageyama says, scowling as he takes one of the brushes out of the bucket and forces it into Hinata’s hands, “You have to brush her first.”

“I—I know that!” Hinata replies, “I just—didn’t know where the stuff was!”

“Right,” Kageyama says, walking to the other side of the horse.  “Are you even tall enough to ride a horse?  There’s a separate barn for ponies.”

“I can ride a horse!” Hinata insists, loud enough to startle the mare. 

“Keep it down, you—“ Kageyama hisses, then promptly cuts himself off to sooth the horse after she gives an alarmed snort.  

“Tch, why are you even stealing a horse, you clearly know  _nothing_  about them,” Kageyama asks, once the mare has settled again. 

Hinata lets out a pitiful whine and slumps against the horse’s side.  “Why are you  _helping_  me steal a horse then?”

The horse is too tall for Hinata to see over, but he hears the huff Kageyama lets out and imagines the other is making some new and terrifying expression.  “She’s getting too old to ride,” he says after a moment, “And I know she won’t be put out to pasture.”

“Oh,” Hinata says, subdued, “You, um, really care about the horses, huh?”

“…Shut up, dumbass.”

Quiet settles over them as they finish grooming the mare, nothing but the  _sssh_  of their brushes and the horse’s breathing filling the air between them. 

“You know,” Hinata says when Kageyama comes back to the front of the stall to get the saddle pad, “You never said what you were hiding from.”

Kageyama’s shoulders jump up to his ears, and it’s hard not to laugh at least a  _little_  at that.

It’s harder still to keep quiet when Kageyama admits just  _what_  he’s hiding from.

“A  _ball_?” Hinata snickers, “You’re hiding in the stables because you don’t like parties?”

“Shut up!” Kageyama shouts, but it’s hard to be afraid of his volume when his face is pink and expression constipated.  “Balls are boring, and my brother keeps making me dance with people he  _knows_  I’ll hate—and I already hate dancing—“

Hinata can’t help it, he laughs, his whole body shaking too much to stay upright, so he ends up leaning against the stall wall.  But when he catches his breath enough to look up again, he sees the other boy’s thin frown, his furrowed brows and down-turned eyes, and feels just a bit bad for having a laugh at the other’s expense.

“Sorry,” he says, still a bit breathless, “It’s just, you’re the ‘Little Tyrant’ Prince, but you’re afraid of parties and are really kind to horses and—It’s nice?  I think?  You seem nice?”

Slowly, the tension seems to leave Kageyama’s shoulders, and his face softens into something a bit more—confused, Hinata thinks. 

“Whatever,” Kageyama says at last.  “Help me put the saddle on, then get out of here.”

That’s what Kageyama  _says_  to do, but his impatience with Hinata’s fumbling has him knocking the other’s hands back away from the saddle, grumbling instructions and insults as he secures the saddle and bridles the mare. 

“Do you even know how to  _ride_  a horse?  Or take care of one at all?”  Kageyama asks, accusing, “There’s no point in letting you take her otherwise.”

“I can ride!” Hinata insists, panicking at the thought that  “A-and Tsukishima takes really good care of all the guild’s horses, even though he’s an  _assh_ —Gah!”

 Hinata slaps his hands over his mouth, and prays desperately that Kageyama wasn’t listening too closely to what he was saying.

 _“Guild?”_  Kageyama asks, his eyes narrowing, “And who the hell—“

“Nothing!  It’s nothing!  I promise to take good care of this horse!”

Kageyama looks like he wants to argue further, but sighs instead and leads the horse out of the barn.

“So, uh,” Hinata says, once they’ve come to a stop just outside the barn’s doors, “Thanks for helping me.”

Kageyama’s face looks softer under the steady, cool light of the moon than it had under the sparse, flickering candles used in the stables that had cast strange shadows over his sharp features.  Still scary, sort of, but less so now that Hinata knows Kageyama doesn’t quite live up his nicknames.

Kageyama shrugs in response, folds his arms across his chest, and leans back against the stable wall as he watches Hinata struggle to mount the horse.

“Do you need a boost?” He asks, after Hinata falls into the dirt for the third time. 

“Wah—“ Hinata can’t find it in himself to stand, too shocked and embarrassed by the offer to get off the ground.  He can’t imagine  _the_  Kageyama Tobio giving him a  _boost_  onto a horse.  But then, he wouldn’t have imagined Kageyama helping him steal a horse, either. 

In fact, Kageyama has put an awful lot of effort in Hinata’s otherwise disastrous escape attempt. 

So he’s probably just seeing the job through, Hinata reasons, when Kageyama walks up to him and pulls him up off the ground.  Definitely just—making sure that all his hard work doesn’t go to waste, Hinata tells himself as Kageyama kneels by the horse’s side, twining his fingers together and holding out his hands so Hinata can use them as a foothold. 

Hesitant, Hinata steps into Kageyama’s hold, wincing because he can  _feel_  the grime on his boots grinding into Kageyama’s palms.  But Kageyama doesn’t so much as make a face and just waits, oddly patient, for Hinata to get into the saddle.

“Thanks again,” Hinata mumbles once he’s seated, not knowing what else to do as Kageyama makes last-minute adjustments to the saddle and stirrups. 

Kageyama looks up at Hinata, then away, and again, Hinata gets the feeling that he looks just a little lonely. 

“Tch, just go already.  And don’t go east, that’s where the guest stables and all the guards are tonight.  You’ll get caught and—”

“Come with me!” The words burst out of Hinata’s mouth, almost before he can even comprehend them himself. 

Kageyama jerks back away from the horse. “What?”

“I—that is—“ Hinata scrambles to figure out why he’d said that, and why he wants it, and what he could say to make Kageyama want that too.  “Um, if you want to?  You can grab Tobio Kaizer, come with me and, um, make sure I take care of this horse really well?”

“I-“ Kageyama starts at a shout, but quickly brings his volume back down to a hiss. “I’m a  _prince_.  And I don’t even know who you  _are_.”

“You’re a  _second_  prince,” Hinata says, “So it’s not like you’re gonna be king.  And my name is Hinata, so now you can’t say you don’t know me.”

“Why do you want me to go so bad?” Kageyama asks.

“I’m, uh, just being friendly?”

 Kageyama frowns, unimpressed.

“Please?” Hinata tries, “Everyone in the guild’s really nice, plus you won’t have to go to a ball again or dance with people you don’t like and—and you don’t even  _like_  it here, except for the horses, so why not?”

“How would you know that?” Kageyama snaps.

“I—I don’t know, it just kind of seems like you don’t!” Hinata responds, exasperated. “Geez, what am I even—“

 “—I’ll go,” Kageyama says, shocking Hinata so badly he nearly falls off his horse.  “Just—let me get Tobio Kaizer, and we’ll go.”

Pure joy, warm and electric, runs up Hinata’s spine at the response, and it takes all of his self-control not to let out a victorious shout.  He can hardly believe it, he’s—stealing a prince?  Is that what he’s doing?  He’s  _stealing_  the notorious Little Tyrant?  The guild’s not going to believe it. This has to be some kind of record.

So lost in his musings is he, that Hinata doesn’t notice Kageyama’s come back until the prince rides up to his side, already regally seated on Tobio Kaizer.

“You forgot your things,” Kageyama says, tossing Hinata’s knapsack at him; Hinata nearly loses his seat in his attempt to catch it.  “Seriously, a thief who leaves his loot behind  _and_  can’t tack a horse?  You’re awful at this.”

“I can tack a horse!” Hinata says, flustered, “And I’ll get better, and become the best thief in the  _whole kingdom_ , just watch!”

“Maybe I will,” Kageyama says, “If I have nothing better to do.”

“Ah geez, whatever!” Hinata says, turning to give his companion a childish scowl, “Let’s just go home already, Kageyama!”

Kageyama sits up a little straighter at the words, the line of his mouth wobbling oddly and—and is that a smile?  Oh god, Hinata thinks, it’s a  _smile_ , or something close to one, and just seeing it is making his heart feel like fireworks—

“Yeah,” Kageyama says, “Let’s go home.”


End file.
